


Thank You For Being Born

by Rasuna



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Birthdays, Fluff, I swear this ending wasn't planned I'm so sorry, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 15:39:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2552795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rasuna/pseuds/Rasuna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On one cold winder morn, Kuroo appears at Tsukishima's door and Tsukishima isn't very happy about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thank You For Being Born

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was initially a birthday present to tumblr user aobajoucries but since it came out better than expected I decided to post it on ao3 as well... enjoy

“Happy birthday!”

Tsukishima stares blankly at Kuroo. At least a dozen questions are swirling in his head, and at least twice as many retorts, but he remains quiet taking in the scene in front of him. It is all just too weird. Sure, the older teen always had the tendency to do something completely unexpected and nonsensical but this is going overboard no matter how Tsukishima looks at it. Should he just slam the door close and ignore the incoming doorbells until Kuroo gets tired and leaves? No, talking to Kuroo is tiresome, but his instincts are telling him that barricading won’t do him much good either. Kuroo can be very headstrong when needed to after all.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Tsukishima finally decides to break the silence and shoots Kuroo the most annoyed glare he can muster.

“Why, I came to celebrate your birthday with you, Tsukki!” Kuroo’s grin becomes even wider than it already was. “Now let me in. It’s quite cold outside after all.”

“Not until you bloody tell me how in the world did you find out where I live,” Tsukishima is already getting tired of this conversation. It’s still early in the morning and whenever he sighs white puffs cloud his glasses. Coming out in shorts and a shirt wasn’t a wise idea either. It’s windy and he can feel specks of snow on his bare legs. He shivers. “And what’s up with roses and the pink box? You’re being gros-”

He’s cut off by Kuroo pushing him backwards, stepping into his house and closing the door behind him, then casually strolling past him. “Tsukki, I really don’t mind having a doctor-patient roleplay with you, but if you kept standing outside in this outfit, you’d catch a cold for real.”

If he didn’t know any better, Tsukishima would’ve thought that Kuroo is sincerely worried about him. But he does know better. He spins around to face Kuroo once again only to discover that the other has already walked into the living room and is nonchalantly scanning cupboards in search of a vase.

After a bit of looking around, a suitable vase gets discovered and Kuroo grimaces in disbelief. “Why would you hide your vases so high up?” He scanns the room one more time, his gaze finally stopping on a little wooden chair in the corner of the room. “Never ever has this Kuroo here used a chair to get something, no matter how far up it was, but I guess there are times when a man must do what he needs to do.”

He swiftly grabs the chair and steps on it, finally reaching to get the vase. Then a snap.

“Tsukki, did you know that you’re unexpectedly comfortable to lie on?”

“And did you know that you’re an idiot? Who the hell would stand on an old and obvious broken chair without a second thought!”

“A man who knows that even if he falls, there is someone out there who will rush to him to soften his fall. Ahh, I sure am happy that you were born into this world, or else I wouldn’t have that someone, would I?” Kuroo smiles sheepishly and Tsukishima scoffs from under him. Why the hell did he even get into this situation? Stupid body, reacting on its own, leaping to catch someone obviously too heavy for him. “Now now, don’t look so angry, noone is hurt and even the vase is safe. All’s well that ends well.”

Tsukishima looks at the hand stretched out to him, then gets up pushing it away, regretting his actions just for a split second, noticing a barely visible shadow cross Kuroo’s face then vanishing. Never has Tsukishima felt so tired so early in the morning. It’s all just too weird. Kuroo showing up behind his door early in the morning. Kuroo wishing him happy birthday. Kuroo feeling totally at home in Tsukishima’s kitchen, taking strawberry cake out of the box wrapped in pink paper, and fixing plates from the cupboard. Admittedly, he had felt just a bit lonely for the recent week. It’s the winter holidays so there are no lessons, no club practice. And noone at home all day long. So the sight of someone happily making coffee at the usually empty kitchen counter makes him feel just a bit warm inside. Just a bit though. Just little enough for Tsukishima to decide to push the feeling away and return the usual scowl to his face.

“Cake and coffee have been served,” Kuroo singsongs, placing plates and cups on the table. “you don’t happen to have any candles to put on a cake? I planned on buying them but forgot, and shops were closed in the morning. You don’t? Oh well, let us sit down and celebrate nonetheless!”

There’s something very wrong with current situation and Kuroo seems totally oblivious to it. Should he tell him? Tsukishima can’t come up with a right way to say what he is about to say. He feels like simply snapping at the older male, but realizes that it would only make things worse. Apparently the awkwardness is inevitable. Better get over with it as soon as possible. Tsukishima sighs one last time before looking Kuroo straight in the eyes.

“Today is not my birthday.” That’s right, curt and straight to the point, no need to stretch this situation out any more.

“Well yeah, I figured that much already.”

“Huh?” Tsukishima isn’t sure what exactly he expected Kuroo’s reaction to be, but it definetely wasn’t this. Then again, he tells himself, he had never seen Kuroo being thrown off balance in anything he did, so he should’ve known better than to think he’d see Kuroo surprised, or anything close to that.

“I mean, no matter how much I asked, you never told me your birthday, and believe it or not, finding it out on my own is even harder than locating your home.” Kuroo lets out a dramatic sigh before his mouth stretches into a wide grin again. The usual playfullness in his eyes is even more obvious than usual. “Therefore, starting today we shall celebrate your birthday on random days until I finally hit the jackpot. Now sit down and let’s eat cake, the coffee is getting cold already.”

Tsukishima can’t believe his ears. Surely, Nekoma’s captain is just joking. Surely, he doesn’t really plan to carry out this nonsense idea of his. Surely, this is just done on the spur of the moment, would happen never again. Surely, Tsukishima isn’t hoping for Kuroo to be serious.

_____

“What am I doing here?” Tsukishima grumbles under his breath. It’s hot and crowded and he’s already regretting ever agreeing to meeting up in a place like this. “I’m never accepting his invitations again” he mutters to noone in particular, being aware of the fact that it’s a big fat lie. A lie he would repeat whenever he showed up at their agreed meet up point half an hour earlier than needed, knowing fully well that the other would be arriving almost as early, his pride not letting him be the one to make his partner wait. He can almost imagine Kuroo demanding him to play out the “sorry did you wait long? No not at all I just got here” scene if he ever was the later one arriving.

What did Kuroo plan for today anyways? Tsukishima is amazed at how three years later he still keeps coming up with new things to do whenever they celebrate his potential birthday.

“Oh, Tsukki, you’re even earlier today!” Tsukishima lifts his gaze to look at Kuroo pushing through the crowd and walking up to him, holding a bouquet in front of him and waving with his free hand.

Upon finally reaching Tsukishima, he falls on one knee and bows “Did you have to wait for long, my princess? As an excuse here have flowers that I myself grew just for your sake... huh?”

When Kuroo finally raises his head Tsukishima is walking away from him, acting annoyed, with only his red ears giving away his true feelings.

Three years later, Kuroo is no longer worried about honestly upsetting Tsukki with acting like this. Three years and almost hundred birthday celebrations later, their feelings have long been confirmed, and their mutual understanding is better than ever. So it only takes him a split second to gather his thoughts, dash after Tsukishima and blow into his ear before taking his hand and walking side by side with him.

“So? Where are we going today?” He tries to make it sound as casual as usual, but Kuroo catches a bit of exitement in Tsukishima’s voice and grins to himself.

“It’s been a while since we last went to a cafe and a new one just opened around here somewhere, so let’s go check it out.” Tsukishima nods curtly and they continue walking in a comforable silence.

By the time they reach the café, Tsukishima is the one carrying the flowers, having accepted them somewhere along the way, no longer having the heart to let Kuroo dejectedly carry them himself. There was no point in Kuroo pointing out that he personally grew them. One of their birthday celebrations had been in a flower shop, where the older male had suddenly discovered his passion for plants. Another one had been in Kuroo’s yard. Tsukishima smiles at the memory of plucking weeds together, complaining about it being the dumbest celebration idea ever, but secretly enjoying the smell of the flowers surrounding him, and feeling reculant to leave when it was time to do so.

When Kuroo is ordering their food, Tsukishima can’t help noticing that Kuroo is wearing a shirt they had bought together on their shopping date and smiles to himself at the memory. “It suits you” he had said when Kuroo was trying it on, looking completely unimpressed by how it looked on him. The compliment had taken him by surprise – it was rare for Tsukki to so openly say nice things in public.

Kuroo makes a perfect guess on what Tsukishima wants to order and Tsukishima feels just a bit annoyed at himself for being so easy to read. Don’t people, who are hard to read, fascinate their partners more? Now that he thinks about it, isn’t his birthday the only thing about him that Kuroo still doesn’t know? It feels weird and utterly dumb and Tsukishima decides to put a stop to it.

“This is getting very stupid aready, so I’m just going to tell you when my birthday is,” Tsukishima says matter of factly when their orders arrive and he has taken a bite of his cake in hope that it would give him strength to go through with this.

Kuroo almost drops his cup and for the first time in a long while Tsukishima sees Kuroo’s shocked face. Maybe even for the first time ever. He isn’t sure because if this has happened already, then it was so far in the past he no longer remembers it. It takes the older boy some time to regain his calm, but when he does, it’s Tsukishima’s turn to be shocked.

“Don’t. I don’t wanna know.” Kuroo covers his ears with hands and stares at the ceiling “La-la-la can’t hear a thing, not a thing, can’t hear.”

They receive a couple of angry glares from people at neighbouring tables and Kuroo finally removes his hands only after Tsukki has written on a napkin that he won’t say it even if Kuroo shuts up and removes hands from his ears.

“I don’t understand,” younger male growls in frustration “what the hell is this situation supposed to mean?”

“It means,” Kuroo suddenly becomes very serious and looks Tsukishima straight in the eyes “that I don’t want my excuse to take you on a weekly date to vanish. Plus,” He leans in over the table so that their faces are almost touching “we’ve been doing this for so long, I don’t want to give up on the feeling of satisfaction once I finally hit the jackpot. And I can’t wait to see what my prize will be.”

The last words are murmured straight into Tsukishima’s ear and he can feel his face flush red.

But yes, somehow, he understands exactly what Kuroo means. And is also feeling a tingle of exitement. How many birthdays will pass before they can finally celebrate the real one together? What will they do on that particular day? What should Tsukishima give Kuroo as a gift for his long-awaited victory?

“Well, at worst it will take another six years for you to finally get the right day but,” He smiles and gives Kuroo a quick peck on lips “you better not give up before that time. Sometimes a man must do what a man needs to do, right?”

“I won’t. To be honest, if it was possible, I’d celebrate your birthday every single day. After all we celebrate birthdays because we’re thankful that people were born right? I personally, am thankful about you being born at least 365 times more often than once a year.” Kuroo returned a quick kiss before resuming drinking their coffee. For a while, neither of them said a word.

A comfortable silence.

_____

“Happy birthday, Tsukki!” Kuroo smiles and puts a little box and flowers in front of him. “I can finally say that on your real birthday, huh? Took me quite a lot of time. Too much time, if you ask me.

“I mean, have you counted how many times we’ve celebrated your birthday already? Two hundred sixty seven! In a span of less than six years. Isn’t it amazing? Hell, I was starting to give up at some point already. Not with the celebrations of course, but with what to do.

“Have you seen my computer history? It’s filled with websites about good dating places. I was already starting to exhaust my possibilities. Next one in line was camping in the forest, by the way. We’ve done camping by the lake already, but camping in a huge forest is completely different thing, don’t you think?

“My favourite celebration was the one where we went to that historical museum though. Listening to your ramblings about dinosaurs was an amazing experience. Ah of course the birthday celebration at my house when everyone was away was also excellent in all aspects and I will never forget it. Come to think of it, it was our 179th celebration wasn’t it? No wonder you mumbled something about the irony of the situation...

“Truly, every single birthday celebration we had... I will never forget. Thank you for being born, Tsukki. I love you.”

Kuroo looks in front of him, and forces himself to smile.

“Tsukki, I finally won, so where is my prize?” No answer.

Kuroo crouches down and reaches out his hand to touch the numbers engraved in the stone.

_Always in our hearts_

_Tsukishima Kei_

_27.09.1999 – 10.09.2020_


End file.
